


Mistakes Were Made (But It Works)

by DemonAngelSakina



Category: Original Work
Genre: Drinking, Drunk Shenanigans, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Mistakes will be made, Ninja, Nudity, Ogling, bar setting, discussing past relationships, don't drink a Four Horsemen!, drunk marriage, drunk perma-mating, everyone is so done, former betrothed, half demon female, half demon-half dragon male, making it work, this bartender is so done
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-08
Updated: 2018-07-08
Packaged: 2019-06-07 06:06:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15212834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DemonAngelSakina/pseuds/DemonAngelSakina
Summary: "We should get married.""...How drunk are you?!""--Just hear me out."





	1. Friends...Or More?

**Author's Note:**

> Personally, I love these two--friends with no real filter between them...giving each other hell like best friends should. Hopefully Aiko doesn't want to kill him after this.
> 
> This would also be a response to how, whenever I use Aiko in an RP, people always want her paired--one time, it was like every other week or so her relationships broke up off screen without me, or her, knowing and I think it honestly would get to anyone--character or IRL. To be fair, she was the only character of mine who's ever had this problem when it comes to RPs...at least, in this, she's got her ex-betrothed trying to help?   
> (At least I think he's helping? Trying to? Just being a dick? I don't know sometimes. :) )
> 
> I only rated this 'mature' due to the alcohol use and light spattering of blood--rather be safe than listen to complaining, right?

In retrospect, he shouldn't have been surprised to see her all-too-familiar form sitting at the bar; though...maybe it had more to do with the way that she was dressed tonight. A faint chuckle of amusement escaped him as he took in the rare sight before himself--savoring the powerful warrior's appearance as if it were the most exotic of wines.

Her waist-length hair, as dark as a moonless desert night, had been braided with infinite care and half woven into a small bun atop her head--a pair of ornate silver sticks holding the bun in place. A crimson-hued, silk cheongsam, trimmed in ink-black silk and embroidered with a pair of silver and gold phoenix, encased the striking female's sleekly toned frame--the blood-like hue close to that of the metallic, gladiator-sandal stilettos on her feet. As usual, the ornate guards were on her forearms--the metal polished to a mirror bright finish; he knew all-too-well that these pieces were not simply decorative...not with the curved blades hidden on the outer edges and the poison-infused ones on the undersides. Slowly he walked up to the bar and took the seat to her right--noting how she seemed to pointedly ignore his presence in favor of the glass loosely held in one misleadingly delicate-looking, suntanned hand. He chuckled and leaned in abit closer.

"...José Cuervo, Jäegermeister, Rumple Minze, and Bacardi 151." He mused--picking out each of the alcohols in the shooter...and taking a moment to enjoy the delicate jasmine and gardenia perfume the warrioress wore. "In the mood for a wild time? I was unaware you were fond of the "Four Horsemen", my lady."

"Do you have someone else that you can harass, Toushi, because I am not in the mood." The female said in a voice as cold as ice--kohl-ringed sapphire eyes narrowed in a venomous glare, blood-painted lips drawn into a minuscule frown.

"You make it sound as if I am a bother to you, Aiko." Toushi replied smoothly--fire-hued eyes betraying the playfulness in his mood. Aiko simply scowled and downed her shooter--the bartender presenting her with another, seemingly, within seconds of the previous glass being drained. Toushi frowned some in thought at the sight. 

"Now I have to ask...what has put you in such a sour mood?" He asked--concern lacing his tone. While he had long since grown used to the serious, and occasionally quite snarky, attitude that his closest friend, and former betrothed, had developed over the years...it didn't mean that he liked it--if anything, he longed for the happier person that she had been when they were younger, before the Great Wars...how she had been before her elder brother's murder.

"Nothing that you should be concerned with." Was all that the warrioress said as she slowly sipped her drink this time. To the uninitiated, it appeared as if she were savoring the taste of her drink...but Toushi knew far better--he knew that she was trying to distract herself from him and practically hardwire her, rather infamous, absolute focus on anything not relating to whatever had sparked her desire to drink herself into a stupor.

"Aiko...I would like for you to tell me what is upsetting you."

"Why? Because we were 'supposed' to be married?" The female all-but sneered through bared fangs, slamming her now-empty glass to the bar top--adding a new dent to its worn, battle-scarred surface.

"No. I would prefer if you told me because you trust me." Toushi said--carefully picking and choosing his words. "And because I am your friend."

Silence reigned over the pair, but finally Aiko rested her forehead against her palm--drumming a staccato rhythm against the smooth skin with her own small, sharp claws.

"Everything. I...have had my heart broken four times...and still more come to try their luck as if I am some prize to be won. And no matter how many times I tell them and everyone around me that I am done and wish no further part of Love's twisted game..." Her sapphire eyes clenched shut in a look of utter agony and absolute exhaustion. "...they never listen."

Fire-hued eyes narrowed in concern at the female's tired words; the male's bronze-toned hand clenched into a tight fist--sharp, ink-black talons biting into his scarred and calloused palm.

"Have they...tried to force--"

"If they had, I would have a far higher body count than I already do, Toushi." Aiko muttered darkly as she looked back at the male next to her. "I may be a halfbreed, but I am no damsel in distress."

"I know...but can you fault me for my concern?" Toushi asked, unclenching his fist and moving the hand over to rest on the female's hand on the glass--both seemingly aware of how the mixed-breed male's larger, darker hand made her own appear more fragile.

"No. If anything...you are perhaps the only male, aside from my uncle, who does care." Aiko said with a resignation in her tone that made the male bite back a flinch. Slowly the silence returned...yet the female's gaze remained on her fellow warrior when his shifted to order a drink for himself.

She knew that she would be lying if she were to say that Time had not been kind to the male next to her--gone was the lanky, arrogant youth that she had once been betrothed to...and in his place, was a powerful male who radiated dark allure like the flames that he controlled, radiated heat. 

A straight profile with sharp, high cheekbones balanced by a strong jaw and rounded chin; his fire-colored eyes as sharp as his favored twin ninjato, but just as capable of expressing a warmth and mirth that she often found herself lacking. Her eyes traveled his features--following the pair of long, ink-black horns curving back over the thick, barely-tamed mane of shoulder-length, sable-black and further down his neck and beyond. The charcoal gray suit, expertly tailored to the tall male's form, highlighted the broad shoulders and torso that years of combat training and swordplay had gifted him--the sleeves of the jacket hinting at the thick, corded muscles in his arms...and the crimson-hued silk button down fighting in a rakish way with his chest--a battle even she hoped would end poorly for the expensive silk.

She frowned some at the thought and looked down at the fresh shooter placed in front of her--was it simply the alcohol affecting her thinking now? She was not so 'love-starved' as every 'suitor' seemed to think, yet...no, even if she was seven shooters to the wind--and five past what most would consider safe and sane concerning the mix that she was indulging in--she had no excuse to be lusting after Toushi...even with their shared history.

"...why are you here, Toushi?" Aiko finally asked, locking sapphire with fiery orange; Toushi looked back at her in confusion then shook his head, giving a weary laugh.

"Mercenary work becomes stressful, my lady. It almost makes me miss the days of being trained to become grandmaster of my clan...but...one cannot be a master of a clan when they are the only one left alive." Toushi replied, downing a shot of straight vodka as if his life depended on it--the female unsure if her current frown came about from his overly flippant tone...or the haunted look in his eyes that she saw far too often in her own reflection.

"Sometimes I forget that you sell your skills for money." The female muttered in her most deadpan tone--mercenaries...loyalists only to an employer's wallet, always seemingly hunting that 'next big score' like jackals hunting a fresh corpse.

"...when you say it like that, Aiko, you make me sound like a common prostitute." Toushi said with a scandalized look on his face...that was as fake as the smile that the bartender wore; the female gritted her teeth and leveled her darkest glare on the male next to her.

"Toushi--"

"Aiko...do not dredge that up further. We all had losses in the Great Wars...I am fine." The male said, his tone as hard as stone...but even he knew that his fellow warrior would not let this go just as he would not let her problems go. How similar they both were...though neither would admit to such a thing, even under torture. 

Silence reigned once more over the pair, yet the silence was more comfortable than the awkward or unnervingly tense kind that others might experience. Aiko absentmindedly flexed her wrist, gently swirling the alcohol in the glass--how they seemed to gravitate to one another as if pulled by an unseen force...their lives inexplicably tethered to one another as if by thick steel cables. Even among her own family, only she and her elder brother had been so close--even her uncle and two beloved cousins were not so tightly bound to her, nor she to them, as the male next to her was. A part of her often wondered what Toushi thought of their unusual connection--if he saw just how this link held them together as if they were two broken halves of the same whole.

"I have an idea, Aiko." Toushi said, turning to face the warrioress with a sly smile painted on his darkly tanned face--rows of dagger-sharp, dragon-like teeth were exposed, but the expression was as nonthreatening as could be to the halfbreed. "We should get married."

The glass in Aiko's right hand shattered from the force of her grip; slowly, she turned to stare incredulously at him--sapphire eyes wide in shock

"...How drunk are you?!"

"Aiko...just hear me out." Toushi said quickly--both choosing to ignore the bartender staring in frustration at the mess of glass, alcohol, and blood on the bar. Aiko scowled and snatched a cloth from the bartender's hand, cleaning the alcohol and blood from her hand.

"Aiko...what I mean is that, if you were wed, it would stop all of these fools from constantly harassing you simply because they desire your body, power, and/or your family's lands and money." Toushi said with a tone of utter amusement...not minding when the female's immediate response was to throw the dirty cloth in question into his face.

"Are you insane?!" Aiko snapped, eyes narrowed in a venomous glare once more--though a part of her did have to admit that the male did, in fact, have a point.


	2. Day By Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I...need a drink..."  
> ...  
> "Scratch that. I am NEVER drinking again. Especially not with you."  
> "As if I am any more content with this affair."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What can I say? These two are two of my oldest OCs and, honestly, I do love them.  
> Are they perfect for each other? Probably not completely, but who really is, right? ;)
> 
> I may write more chapters to this one day, but for now I'll leave it at two.

The first thing that she realized, as she woke up in the morning, was that she desperately needed to murder the pair of oni using twin kanabo on the taiko drums inside of her skull. 

The second was that she was exhausted, had a bad case of cottonmouth and a very severe aversion to opening her eyes. Fuck...she hated hangovers, and this one was shaping up to be one of the kind that made death by drawing-and-quartering look like a pleasant spa weekend. A crease formed on her brow, her eyes clenched shut--she needed a long, borderline-scalding bath, an unhealthy amount of coffee, and plenty of greasy, heavy foods...the kitchen staff had better have steak and eggs or heads would be rolling.

Against her better judgment, she cracked open her sapphire-hued eyes...and realized that there was a very serious, fundamental problem with her current plan...specifically that she had no clue where she was.

Slowly, she forced herself to sit up on the king-sized bed, one tanned hand pressed to her forehead--realizing that she was, to her growing white-hot rage, naked beneath the white sheets--and tried to force her brain to work as she took in her surroundings, short claw-like nails tapping a stacatto rhythm against her brow as if the gesture would hurry the process along.

Large room--hotel room possibly...cream colored carpet...split paneled walls--white wood below and pale blue, patterned paper above...pale gold and crystal chandelier--very nice hotel room then...white double doors on one wall--bathroom possibly...surprisingly tasteful white and pale gold trimmed furniture...pristine floor to ceiling windows on one wall, leading to a balcony...Eiffel Tower...white double door closet--wait...what? What?! 

She looked back out the windows, squinting at the view as she tried to make the proverbial gears in her brain turn faster--was she in Paris? Paris, France?! Why was she in a hotel room in Paris, France?!

A low noise--an inhuman mix of a growl and a groan--reached her ears and she turned to stare down at her bedmate in growing shock and horror. The darkly tanned male was face down in the white pillows--trying to do a passable imitation of suicide by smothering; thick, tangled black hair pooled around his head and broad shoulders in a more unruly mess than normal. The female gritted her teeth--her own river of ink-dark hair spilling down her back and over her shoulders to hide her breasts. A snarl was the only warning given before she viciously brought the other pillow down on the male's head.

"TOUSHI!!! Wake up, bastard!!! I am going to kill you!" Her scream of rage quickly followed by an equally loud, sharp hiss of agony as her hangover-assaulted mind and body protested her fury and actions. Toushi grunted and tried to avoid raising his own voice to the assault on his ears and person...more out of respect for his own hangover than any kind of care for his bedmate's state of wellbeing.

"I will pass...I am in the middle of attempting to die over here as it stands, Aiko." He growled out--the sound muffled by the pillow...and nowhere near sounding as disturbed by their apparent proximity as the female believed it should. Aiko growled, low and predatory, and shifted to one side, violently kicking the other over the edge and off of the bed--the resulting heavy thud and draconic snarl of fury managing to, temporarily, sate her own sadistic wrath. Toushi stood up, growling lowly as he tried to massage away the pain of his own hangover--fire-hued eyes clenched shut against the ever-persistent pounding in his skull.

 _'Damn--could cut diamonds with those abs...'_ The thought cutting, unbidden, through her anger with an ease that would have bothered her in any other circumstance. When the male turned around--trying to process where he was and figure out the illusive 'how'--Aiko tilted her head to one side in thought as she found herself, in her hangover-addled mind, admiring the mixed-breed's posterior since it was, already, on full display. _'Back view is very nice too...'_

"...Are you honestly more concerned with the exact dimensions of my body at a time like this?" Toushi growled and turned to glare at the female on the bed; Aiko paled at that...then leveled her gaze on the mixed-blood's throat before cautiously touching the scabbed over bite mark on her own neck, barely able to speak past the sudden lump catching in her throat.

"Toushi...I...did not say ANY of that out loud."

Toushi's eyes widened and his hand moved down to touch the matching bite mark on his neck...only for him to freeze at seeing the white gold band encircling his finger. The half-breed stared a moment before cautiously looking at her own hand...and could only choke on her breath at the sight of a--tastefully simple, thank the Sisters!--white gold band on her finger, the small, brilliant cut diamond glittering in the sunlight coming in from the wall of windows at the balcony.

"Toushi--?!!"

"I know!!" Toushi choked out, in shock and horror, with a noise that could only be described as a strangled squeak. He collapsed onto the bed, staring at the ceiling--the mercenary's voice shaky and panicked...though he would deny such a thing. "How the--?!"

"We...were drinking. We talked." Aiko said in a voice that was trying for calm, but was far closer to hysterical. "And...you suggested that we get married!"

"It was a joke, Aiko! And a half-cocked idea designed only to spare you further heartache!" Toushi snapped, before turning his head to glare at his unexpected bride--by the Sisters, they were married...mated.  
Crap...he needed ALL the alcohol!

"I...need a drink..." Aiko muttered as she flopped back down and curled up onto her side, facing Toushi who remained sprawled on his back--sapphire eyes wide as she processed all of this. Married...mated...all because... "Scratch that. I am NEVER drinking again. Especially not with you."

"As if I am any more content with this affair." Toushi groused, turning onto his side--fire-hued eyes locking with sapphire blue. "If this were to have happened, I most certianly would have preferred to have been lucid during the entire thing."

Both could only stare at one another as the weight of that single statement settled on them like a heavy, woolen blanket.

"Are you saying that you wanted to marry me?"

"Aiko..." Toushi started, taking a deep breath to gather his thoughts through the slowly ebbing pain inside of his head. "...I have never stopped wanting to marry you."

"But that...has been...centuries..." Aiko whispered--the warrioress only able to stare in shock at her once bethrothed. "Toushi, we were children--it was an arranged marriage and--"

"And I fell in love with you even back then. You broke things off after your brother was murdered, Aiko--I accepted it and understood." The male rolled over onto his side--fire-hued eyes locking with confused sapphire. "But I never stopped hoping that, if I were patient enough--if I proved myself loyal enough--that you would see me as something other than a friend. But...the wars came--the Great Wars came...and you moved on. I tried to but...you are unforgettable."

Aiko frowned some, breaking eye contact to stare at the pillow near her aching head--when was the last time that she had heard words so earnest and unrehearsed? Her frown slipped some--only with Toushi...he was honest and true when others were not. Mercenary or not, this mixed-breed male was the only true constant in her life...and she had left him waiting and lost for centuries, hadn't she? Even now, he was still standing at their altar, waiting for her to come back to him...hoping that she would feel the same for him.

"Toushi, I will not be the wife you want. I will not walk two steps behind you nor will I give up my power to stay in a home like a porcelain doll--" Aiko started only to stop when she saw the hurt in the male's eyes.

"Whatever made you think I desire a traditional bride?" Toushi reached over, brushing a lock of ink dark hair back from the female's face. "I want a bride who will stand beside me--one 0who will walk at my side with her head held high. I want a bride who is not afraid to speak her mind--one who will be my equal and nothing less. I want...you, Aiko--it's always been you."

Aiko shifted to lay her hand to the male's darker cheek, her eyes closing as she weighed her thoughts.

"You...are perhaps the only one in this world who has ever seen all of me." She whispered, her brow furrowed in deep thought. "The only one who has seen all of the darkness, the stupor, the helplessness, the desperation, the sorrow, the pain, the anger, the hatred..."

Toushi opened his mouth to speak...but was silenced by those sapphire eyes looking at him--the long-held wall gone as she continued to speak. 

"...The passion, the generosity, the happiness, the humor, the love...and the hope." Aiko brushed her fingertips down his cheek to his lips. "The only constant and comfort this life has to offer. No matter the turmoil, the horror...you have always been there...and I have been awful to you. I have, far too often, left you to flounder alone--too focused on my own selfishness."

"You have far more responsibility on your head than I do, Aiko." Toushi whispered, kissing her fingertips gently. "I hold no ill will towards you--"

"You should though." She said, pushing the male over onto his back and pushing herself up on her arms so that she seemed to loom over him; as she opened her mouth to speak, Toushi reached out a hand and pulled her down into a kiss--a simple dance and press of their lips to convey a message that an apology for the past was never needed. As they drew apart, she looked down at him--the message having gotten through...but she would still find a way to make things up to him...this male who was her most trusted friend and ally. "So...where do we go from here?"

"Well...we cannot exactly annul our marriage--what with the mating marks and all..." Toushi said with a shrug, still lying on his back with Aiko leaning over him. "So...I suppose we just have to deal with this as it comes."

"Day by day?"

"Day by day."


End file.
